


Indelible

by sciencefictioness



Series: Legacy [11]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: BDSM, M/M, Mentions of Genji/Gabriel/Jack, Mentions of Jesse/Gabriel, Mentions of Jesse/Gabriel/Jack, Polyamory, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 15:21:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18284975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sciencefictioness/pseuds/sciencefictioness
Summary: “There was somethin’ else.  That your brother mentioned.”The scratch of Hanzo’s pencil against his sketchbook went quiet, and Jesse felt the bed shift, like Hanzo was looking down at him.“Mmmm?”Jesse took in a deep breath, and let it out slow.“He told me to text Gabriel.  We’ve been talking some for uh… the first time in a long time.”The silence was thick in the air, broken by the rustle of Hanzo closing his sketchbook, and the soft thump of him laying it down.“Genji’s Gabriel?”Jesse’s heart stuttered a handful of painful beats, too big for his chest and climbing into his throat for a moment.Genji’s Gabriel,andoh,that ached in ways it shouldn’t anymore; hurt Jesse in ways he didn’t have the right to hurt.Gabriel had been Genji’s for a long while now.  As long as he’d been Jesse’s, if not longer, and it was well past time for it to stop sounding wrong in his ears.To stop tasting wrong in his mouth.





	Indelible

**Author's Note:**

> This work does not stand alone, and is best read after chapter fifteen of Legacy, as well as the side fic,['Sync'](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18265631). Multiship, obviously. Please enjoy.

He’d barely managed to knock when Hanzo opened the door for him, smiling soft and sleepy, still dressed in Jesse’s shirt.  Tangled hair curled under his jaw, and there were marks on his cheek like he’d been taking a nap recently, faint pink lines etched into his skin.  Vulnerable, and beautiful, and all Jesse could do was stare.

 

Then Hanzo lifted up onto his toes and pulled him down into a kiss; Jesse closed his eyes, curling an arm around Hanzo’s waist to tug him close as he hummed contentedly into his lips.  Jesse took a couple of slow steps forward so they were inside the apartment and eased the door shut behind them with his foot, mouth still pressed against Hanzo’s, grocery bags dangling from the fingers of his other hand.  When they finally broke apart Hanzo’s cheeks were a little flushed, and he tucked his face into Jesse’s chest, rubbing it drowsily back and forth.

 

It made Jesse think of his dragons.

 

“I’m glad you’re here,” he said, and Jesse kissed the top of his head.

 

“Glad to be here.”

 

Hanzo pulled away, sitting down on the couch in a pile of pillows and blankets and clearing a spot next to him for Jesse.  His art tablet was on the coffee table, along with a bottle of water and a half-dozen origami dragons in different shades of blue, all a little rumpled in places.  Jesse had been sneaking them into Hanzo’s pockets when he wasn’t paying attention, and they didn’t always travel well, but they did always make it home, it seemed. He knew there were others scattered around Hanzo’s place— a pair on his bedside table, one on a shelf in his bathroom, a few littering the top of his dresser.

 

Little bits of Jesse everywhere he went.

 

Jesse put the grocery bags on the floor, reaching into one to extricate another tiny paper dragon.  This one was green, bigger than the others, and he set it delicately next to the rest as he sunk down onto the couch beside Hanzo.  Hanzo eyed it curiously, looking over at Jesse like he was waiting on an explanation.

 

“In the interest of full disclosure, your brother showed up at my place a little bit ago.”

 

Hanzo went wide eyed for a moment, then sighed and rolled them instead, leaning harder into Jesse.

 

“Of course he did.  I’m sorry, I’ll talk to him.”

 

Jesse sank a hand in Hanzo’s hair, drawing as much comfort from the gesture as Hanzo did, if not more.  It was soft under his fingers, damp like he’d taken a shower and never bothered to dry it.

 

Like he’d taken off Jesse’s shirt to wash up, and then put it back on again.

 

“You don’t gotta say anything, it wasn’t so bad.  He means well even if he went about it kinda backwards.  Can’t fault somebody for wantin’ to look after you. That dragon of his is uhhh… something else, though, ain’t she.”

 

Right on cue there was a clattering noise from Hanzo’s bedroom, and a streak of blue-gray darting down the hall.  Aoi leapt into Jesse’s lap with a purr, shoving her face into Jesse’s, tail swishing excitedly. Jesse grinned, free hand coming up to scratch through her frills.

 

“Hey there.  Wasn’t sure if you’d be out ‘n about.”  Jesse glanced around but Ruri was nowhere to be seen.  “Where’s your sister, sweetheart? She hiding from me?”

 

Hanzo ran a hand down his left arm like Jesse had seen him do countless times before, except now Jesse realized the significance of it.  Not a nervous gesture like Jesse had assumed; Hanzo calming his dragons, or at least acknowledging them.

 

“She’s not… out.  She didn’t want to leave the temple.  She’s unhappy about being away from Genji, and now she’s sulking.”  Hanzo went still, and then looked down at his arm with a huff of laughter.  “Yes, you _are.”_

 

It took a second for Jesse to figure out Hanzo was speaking to Ruri, and then he laughed, too.

 

“Gives new meaning to ‘talking to yourself’ I suppose.”  

 

Hanzo hummed, reaching over to run a hand absently down Aoi’s scales.

 

“What did he say to you?  My brother.”

 

“Not a whole lot, really.  Just wanted me to do right by you.  Told me to be careful, and to take care of you, ‘cause you don’t always take care of yourself like you oughta.”  Jesse dropped his hand from Hanzo’s hair to wrap around his waist and squeeze. “Like I ain’t figured that out already.”

 

Aoi curled up in Jesse’s lap, soaking up both of their affection with intermittent purrs, nudging their hands with her muzzle when they stopped petting her.  After a while Hanzo went quiet, and tense, and Jesse stopped stroking through Aoi’s feathers to coax his face up and kiss him. Brushed their lips together, just for a moment, and then didn’t let Hanzo look away.

 

“He’s just worried.  He loves you.”

 

Hanzo sneered a little; irritation more than anger.

 

Embarrassment more than venom.

 

“He thinks he I need someone looking after me.”

 

“Because you ain’t soft enough with yourself,” Jesse said, brushing Hanzo’s hair out of his face.  “Think you gotta be invincible all the time. But you’re doing better, yeah? Genji knows that, too.”

 

Hanzo pressed his forehead to Jesse’s chest, then slid sideways on the couch, ending up with his head in Jesse’s lap next to Aoi.  

 

Jesse found one of Hanzo’s hands with his own and interlaced their fingers.  Aoi crawled over onto Hanzo and nestled herself against him, and they lay there in silence for a long time, Jesse playing with his hair.  There was more Jesse needed to say to Hanzo— about Gabriel, and the messy tangle of their pasts. The way it interlaced with the present to make things... intricate.

 

To make them complicated.

 

But Hanzo was relaxed against him, and Ruri’s purrs had leveled out into something that sounded like sleep.  The words felt heavy and sharp and Jesse couldn’t slice through the quiet, yet. It could wait a little while; he had time.

 

Hanzo wasn’t going anywhere.

 

-

 

Eventually Aoi shimmered out of existence and back into Hanzo’s skin.  Jesse and Hanzo ate together— pasta was simple, and Jesse was good at it— and watched half of a nature documentary before Hanzo ended up in his lap, kissing him soundly.  They got each other off, a lazy affair with their hands shoved in one another’s clothes, and Hanzo whining into his mouth.

 

The two of the ended up in Hanzo’s bed, Hanzo propped up on some pillows with a sketchbook in hand, Jesse laying with an arm around his hips and his face shoved into Hanzo’s side.  It would have been easy to sleep if not for the unease in his stomach.

 

A misplaced sense of guilt, like he’d done something wrong.  He hadn’t, exactly, but he hadn’t been entirely open with Hanzo either.   

 

Hanzo had been laying himself bare in fits and starts.  Inch by inch, letting Jesse in.

 

He was giving Jesse everything he could right then; it was only fair that Jesse return it in kind.

 

“There was somethin’ else.  That your brother mentioned.”  

 

The scratch of Hanzo’s pencil against his sketchbook went quiet, and Jesse felt the bed shift, like Hanzo was looking down at him.

 

“Mmmm?”

 

Jesse took in a deep breath, and let it out slow.

 

“He told me to text Gabriel.  We’ve been talking some for uh… the first time in a long time.”

 

The silence was thick in the air, broken by the rustle of Hanzo closing his sketchbook, and the soft thump of him laying it down.

 

“Genji’s Gabriel?”

 

Jesse’s heart stuttered a handful of painful beats, too big for his chest and climbing into his throat for a moment.

 

 _Genji’s Gabriel,_ and _oh,_ that ached in ways it shouldn’t anymore; hurt Jesse in ways he didn’t have the right to hurt.

 

Gabriel had been Genji’s for a long while now.  As long as he’d been Jesse’s, if not longer, and it was well past time for it to stop sounding wrong in his ears.

 

To stop tasting wrong in his mouth.

 

“Yeah.  I dunno what all Genji told you about him and me.”

 

Genji knew more about Jesse than Hanzo did, in all likelihood; had been hearing stories from Gabriel for years.  Breathless, heated intimacies Jesse might never think of again without wincing.

 

Pieces of himself he’d left behind.

 

“Nothing more than what you’ve mentioned yourself,” Hanzo said warily.  “That you served together when you were in the military. That he was your commanding officer.  It seemed like there was more to it than that, but I didn’t ask.”

 

It was entirely true, and yet woefully inadequate.  

 

Gabriel had always been so much more.

 

“We were together for a while, back then.  A long while, actually. Me and Jack, too, though not as… intensely.  It was Gabriel who first got me into the scene. Only person I ever subbed for. More than once, anyway.”

 

Hanzo pulled in shaky breath, and let it out in a sigh.

 

“How long were you together?”

 

His memories of Gabriel twisted through him like a knife, a montage of warmth, and want, and belonging.  

 

Then agony.  Then rage.

 

A bone-deep well of loneliness, only just now running dry.

 

“Few years.  Long enough that I got this,” Jesse said, turning his face towards the mattress and pulling his hair up off the back of his neck.

 

Jesse felt more exposed in that moment than he ever had naked, Hanzo looking at the scrawl of Gabriel’s name in his skin.  The implications were clear, even if they went unspoken. Hanzo knew better than most just how easy it was to remove a tattoo like that, now.  Fine lines, older ink, an inconspicuous location. A few hours work and all Jesse would have was smooth skin; the barest hints of a scar, faded and indecipherable.

 

Yet Jesse was still wearing it there, Gabriel carefully inked into him, even after all that time.  Years and years. All the miles he’d put between them, only to retrace every step. Gabriel’s dog tags were a ghost around his neck.

 

Jesse couldn’t let it go.

 

Hanzo’s fingers brushed across the lines of Gabriel’s name, and Jesse shuddered; it felt like when he’d lost his arm all over again.

 

As though parts of Jesse that should have been hidden were there for everyone to see.

 

“He meant a lot to you.”  Jesse nodded, Hanzo’s thumb rubbing back and forth across the back of his neck.  “He still means a lot to you.” Jesse nodded again, tucking his face tighter against Hanzo’s side, pressing himself closer.  

 

“I kept thinking I’d get past it.  And I did, mostly, but...”

 

Gabriel’s name on his skin in deliberate black.

 

Gabriel’s dog tags in a drawer in his bedroom.

 

Gabriel’s voice in his ear, in his dreams, _please, Jesse, don’t do this._

 

“What happened to the two of you?”  Hanzo asked, and Jesse shut his eyes tighter.  Clenched his jaw until his head hurt.

 

Bones he didn’t have anymore ached.

 

“A lot of things.  He—”

 

_He lied to me._

 

_He left me behind._

 

Jesse had needed him, and he’d been so far away.

 

His throat was tight, and his eyes stung, fingers sore where he clung to Hanzo’s clothes.

 

“I ain’t quite ready to talk about it all, I guess.  But I didn’t wanna keep shit from you, neither. Me and Gabriel haven’t really been on good terms the past few years, but when I called Genji looking for you the other day he answered the phone, and… I dunno.  I miss talking to him. He saved my life so many times. We were friends ‘fore anything else, and it’d be nice to have that again.”

 

To be something, instead of nothing.  To smooth down some of the edges between them, until it didn’t hurt Jesse to think of him.

 

“‘m sorry,” he added, words mumbled out into Hanzo’s ribs.  “I love you. I don’t wanna fuck this up.”

 

Hanzo ran his hands through Jesse’s hair.  Gently, just like Jesse always did to his, carefully untangling the strands.  

 

“You don’t need to apologize, Jesse.  You haven’t done anything wrong. You know how I feel about you, yes?”

 

Jesse did.  The memory of Hanzo’s voice came to him, slurred and sleep drunk, _love you too, Jesse._

 

Tired but truthful, all of him open.

 

He nodded again.  Hanzo’s fingers felt good in his hair.

 

“You told me before that you’d never force me to tell you everything.  You don’t need to tell me everything either. We have time.” Another nod, still hidden away in Hanzo’s skin, unable to meet his eyes.  “You don’t need my permission to talk to Gabriel, but I’m glad you told me, anyway.”

 

“It’s important to me.  To be honest with you.”

 

Important to be honest with everyone, except for maybe himself.

 

Hanzo took Jesse’s right hand and lifted it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

 

Then he set his sketchbook on the nightstand and turned off the light, shifting down the bed until he was laying beside Jesse.  Hanzo slipped an arm under his head, and tucked Jesse into his chest in the dark. Nosed into his hair.

 

“Tell me again.”

 

Hushed, and earnest.

 

Jesse held him close.

 

“Love you, Hanzo.”

 

Hanzo made a noise, something close to a sigh, and sank his fingers back into Jesse’s hair.

 

Jesse wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep, but it came in like the tide and pulled Jesse gently down.

 

In his dreams he had his arm again.

 

Gabriel was holding his hand.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Tell me nice things or come yell at me on [twitter.](https://twitter.com/scifictioness?lang=en)


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